IS THE INNOVATIVE APPROACH OF DESIGN THINKING ALREADY BEING USED IN EDUCATION, IT AND BANKING?

Abstract

All organizations encounter problems. All organizations are, at some point, in extreme situations, without knowing how to react. All organizations are looking for innovation and want to come up with something ingenious. But, actually, how can these problems be identified, defined and properly solved? Certainly, through design thinking. As a highly effective problem-solving approach, design thinking follows five significant steps, each one being presented in detail in the paper. This method can generate boundless success, yet it can also have no impact, if not exploited accordingly. Thus, in the current research paper, design thinking was linked to three different fields in Romania – education, IT and banking. The choice of education, IT and banking was made precisely due to the discrepancies between these sine-qua-non areas that cannot be excluded from the quotidian and that actively contribute to improving the quality of life. Altogether, the aim was to scrutinize how contrasting organizations consciously or unconsciously apply this innovative technique. Through a quantitative method of research, the degree of acceptability of the design thinking method was observed, but also the organizations’ effective ways for innovation. In this paper, it is identified to which extent solutions lead to or involve aspects of digitalization. Coronavirus pandemic led organizations to shift their processes into the online environment. In fact, during this period of time, organizations faced unprecedented problems that might be solved with the help of digitalization. In this regard, interconnecting digitalization with design thinking might be of real help, under the idea of innovation. The research outcomes reveal an accurate overview of the method use.